This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Bend, Ore. • Last votes were coming in Tuesday in a recall election for a judge in the sparsely populated Oregon county where armed militants took over a federal wildlife refuge earlier this year.
Judge Steve Grasty, Harney County's top administrator, faces the special election because he refused to let the militants use a county building to hold a meeting.
Supporters of the recall say Grasty violated rights to free speech and freedom of assembly.
The vote underscores divisions that remain in the county more than four months after the 41-day occupation ended Feb. 11. The militants took over the refuge in opposition to federal government overreach.
Most signs in a nearby town and on ranch fence posts are for Grasty, who, even if the referendum fails, retires in December.
By late Monday afternoon, Harney County Clerk Derrin E. "Dag" Robinson had collected 58 percent of the roughly 4,400 ballots that were sent out.
Voters can cast ballots at drop-off boxes until 8 p.m. Tuesday, at which time the last ballots will all be collected. In Oregon, voters can mail or drop off their ballots. There are no polling stations.
The headquarters of the 188,000-acre Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 30 miles south of Burns, is still closed, though refuge roads are open. Refuge manager Chad Karges said he expects the headquarters to reopen in late summer or early fall.
At more than 10,000 square miles, Harney County is Oregon's largest county. With only 7,100 residents, it is also one of the least populated. But the world's attention was focused on it after the militants, who came from out of state, took over the refuge headquarters in January.
Grasty told The Associated Press recently that he stands by his decision to deny the leader of the militants use of a county building.
"He had already taken over, with firearms, a whole compound of buildings. And (the request) didn't make sense to me, nor did it fit public policy about public safety," Grasty said.
More than two dozen occupiers were arrested amid the takeover, and one was shot dead at a roadblock confrontation with law enforcement officers. Several have pleaded guilty to conspiracy in exchange for the dismissal of a charge of firearms possession in a federal facility. Most of the remaining defendants, including Bundy, are scheduled to go to trial Sept. 7.
Robinson said Harney County recently got a scanning machine for examining ballots and tallying election results; this election will be the second time the county has used it.
He said he is posting on his own Facebook page to try to boost voter participation. The county lacks a radio station and has only a weekly newspaper.